Road warriors can look away now. Measuring 41cm wide and weighing 3.5kg, a laptop this big is a toy for serious gamers with little concern for portability. The Qosmio x870, with its full high-definition resolution and 17.3-inch screen simply looks like a machine built for long nights of Enemy Territory in dark rooms. The black and red metallic finish balances with the red backlit keys, which include arrows on the controlling W, A, S, D keys. The unit has an Intel i7 quad-core processor, Blu-ray optical drive, 16GB RAM, 750GB hard drive and hybrid 8GB SSD/1TB hard drive. It's loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and ports include four USB 3.0 slots, HDMI, SD card reader and Ethernet. The x870 comes with NVidia 3D glasses for those who want to surround themselves in their games and has Harmon Kardon speakers on either side of the keyboard. The downside of this powerful beast is you can expect a sub-two-hour battery life.

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2. TAP 20

Sony, $1499

sony.com.au

Rating: 4/5

If you (wisely) consider tablets and desktop computers to exist in their own sphere, the Tap 20 lives in the place where those worlds collide. The Tap 20 is a Windows 8 desktop computer with a touchscreen and a degree of portability. Given it weighs 5.2kg, you're not going to carry it around, but it does have a battery (promising up to 2.5 hours) so you can unplug it and move it to another room while still running. The bevelled-edge 20-inch screen looks like an overgrown tablet. Inside is a low-voltage Intel Core i5 chip, 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard disk. There are two USB ports but no optical drive. You can sit the Tap 20 flat on a desk or prop it up on various angles with a built-in stand. It comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Depending on your viewpoint, this desktop tablet is either a bold entry into a new market space or an unusual combination of devices not meant to be together.

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3. ASPIRE S7

Acer, $1999

acer.com.au

Rating: 4.5/5

Take the Acer Aspire S7 out of the box and you might struggle not to make an ooooh sound. This sexy machine has a Corning Gorilla glass lid, an 11.9mm profile and weighs 1.3kg. It runs Windows 8, has a 13.3-inch touchscreen display that can fold out 180 degrees, two USB 3.0 ports, a micro-HDMI connection, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and SD reader. It's powered by an Intel Core i7 processor, with 4GB RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive. The backlit keyboard has almost flat keys that are comfortable for touch typing. The speakers are underneath on either side and twin fans are designed to keep it cool. The downside of a thin device with a large touchscreen is a disappointing battery life. Acer says you can get up to six hours of battery, but with heavy use you could be looking to plug it in around the four-hour mark. Power users might want more but there is a lot to like here.

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4. DUO 11

Sony, $1499

sony.com.au

Rating: 4/5

The first time you see the Duo 11 it looks like a thick tablet running Windows 8. There is a reason it's called the slider hybrid, though. Curl your fingers under one edge of the screen and you can push it up, sliding it out to reveal a keyboard. The Duo 11 is powered by an Intel Core i5 chip, has 6GB RAM and a 128GB solid-state drive, and its ports include two USB 3.0, HDMI and a SD slot. When the unit slides together, you use the 11.6-inch screen like a tablet. When you slide out the keyboard to its fixed angle, you will probably still use the touchscreen or the included stylus to navigate because the optical pointer on the keyboard is fiddly. The keyboard feels cramped and the screen opens with a clunk rather than a glide. There is the good and bad in this device that wants the best of both worlds. As a tablet the Duo 11 is big and bulky but it does offer power, storage space and the convenience of a keyboard.

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5. iMAC 21-INCH

Apple, $2478

apple.com/au

Rating: 4.5/5

Laptops regularly steal all the attention but Apple has showered its desktop computer with designer love. The iMac might look similar from the front but it looks different from every other angle. Its sides have been shaved down to 5mm, there's a barely noticeable bulge at its back for computing parts, and its weight has dropped to 5.68kg. It's strikingly slender for a powerful desktop computer. Some of its new technological tricks include new generation Intel Core i5 and i7 chips, a faster wireless connection, a FaceTime HD camera, four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt connections, and a Fusion Drive option. This is a large mechanical hard drive with a flash component, so regularly accessed programs are delivered up to four times as fast. It's a solid solution to storage issues. This iMac doesn't add more screen resolution and it sheds an optical drive, but it's a slick system that commands attention.

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